The main thing we learned on this trip was to stay flexible. Bad weather interrupted us 25 days into the trip, meaning we had to spend three weeks at home waiting for it to pass. Then, all that rain meant we had to re-start our trip in an anti-clock wise direction in the hope that the far South-West part of QLD dried up in time for us to visit that on our way back. Once on the road again, we had some van failures, and these coupled with school holidays, meant that a trip to The Tip would not be feasible. So, another change of plans and we quickly adjusted the itinerary. Halfway through, we realised that we were supposed to be doing the roads not yet travelled, so another change of plans. It was at this stage that we abandoned any chance of getting to Birdsville as the roads were still cut in places, and others would have been very sloppy. We settled on a more familiar route, with a view of stopping (overnighting or more) at places not yet stayed at. We are pleased we did this as the places we did stop at had more to offer than first meets the eye. A slogan on a coffee cup at the Blackall Pharmacy summed it up pretty nicely, "There's more than F---all to do in Blackall" and indeed there was.
We did manage to travel on 19 bits of roads not yet travelled, and camped at 33 (of 45) new places.
Funs facts and statistics:
Total distance travelled since owning a van: 78 635km
Total travelled this trip: 11,218km
Total towed this trip: 10,332km
Days on the road: 92 (does not include the 3 weeks we were at home)
Nights on the road: 90
Number of off-grid nights: 35 (includes free, donation and paid)
Av $/night: $23.60
Litres of diesel purchased: 2,035.40 litres at a cost of $ 4,550.55
L/100km: 18.14
Most expensive fuel: $2.77 @ Burke & Wills Roadhouse
Cheapest fuel: $1.837 @ Toowoomba
